Bomb Plotter Was U.S. Informer

The supposed bomber at the center of a foiled plot to bring down a jetliner was actually a double agent who funneled vital information to U.S. and Arab intelligence agencies, according to officials, marking an apparently successful infiltration of al Qaeda's most dangerous branch.

The revelation came a day after U.S. officials said the Central Intelligence Agency, working with foreign security services and other agencies, had thwarted a bomb plot by al Qaeda's Yemeni branch aimed at bringing down a U.S. jetliner with a more advanced version of an underwear bomb used in a failed 2009 Christmas Day attempt.

The newest plot appears to provide a chilling illustration of al Qaeda's determination to learn from its mistakes: The bomb that was recovered has two detonators, providing a crucial backup in the event one failed, a U.S. official said Tuesday.

The U.S. has thwarted a suicide bombing plot by al Qaeda's Yemeni branch that would have used a more stealthy version of the underwear bomb deployed in the failed 2009 Christmas Day bombing attempt. Laura Meckler has details on The News Hub.

According to a U.S. official familiar with the operation, the double agent spent several perilous weeks working inside al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, answering to a foreign intelligence service that works in concert with the CIA. Saudi intelligence officials played "a large role" in handling of the double agent inside AQAP, this official said.

The man was able to convince members of the Yemeni terror group that he wanted to carry out a suicide mission, the official said.

The man was given the bomb and general instructions for carrying out the attack, the official said. Instead of following those directions, however, when he left Yemen, he contacted intelligence authorities, turning over the bomb and fresh intelligence about AQAP.

Some of the information gathered in the course of the multiweek operation led to the U.S. drone strike in Yemen on Sunday that killed a top operative of the Yemeni group, officials said Tuesday.

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The Saudi embassy in Washington had no immediate comment. In the past, some Saudi officials have chafed at characterizations that Saudi Arabia used former al Qaeda militants as informants to disrupt plots by the Yemeni branch.

Yemeni officials say they weren't informed about the operation.

Investigators are closely scrutinizing the construction of the bomb for clues that would lead to its makers and would also help aviation security experts improve and adjust airport detection systems. Investigators say the bomb contained no metal, meaning would have likely evaded detection by airport screeners.

The bomb is believed to have been designed by the group's top bomb maker, Ibrahim Hassan Tali al-Asiri, who officials believe designed the Christmas Day bomb as well. He remains at large and is a target of the CIA's drone program in Yemen.

The device is similar to those used both in the Christmas Day attempt aboard an international flight to Detroit and an earlier failed plot to assassinate a Saudi prince. A U.S. counterterrorism official said there are enough "qualitative differences" to suggest that the group is getting more sophisticated and trying to learn from its mistakes.

"We're trying to understand different aspects of the design to make sure that we're able to take preventive action in the future to prevent this or other types of devices" from reaching their intended targets, probably U.S.-bound jetliners, John Brennan, the White House counterterrorism adviser said in televised interviews.

In comments about the supposed bomber earlier Tuesday, U.S. officials left gaps that suggested the man was an intelligence asset. He is under the control of a foreign government but isn't being held in detention, said officials briefed on the matter. These officials declined to elaborate on the individual's whereabouts, citing ongoing operations, but were adamant Tuesday he poses no security threat.

The Hunt for Al Qaeda

Read about members of al Qaeda's leadership who have been captured or killed and those remaining at large.

U.S. officials have also insisted that they always had control of the plot and believed no lives or airliners were in danger, which would also support the assertion that he was in fact an al Qaeda mole.

U.S. officials also didn't activate the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group, which was created in response to the 2009 bomb plot and has been used to extract information from suspects believed to have actionable intelligence on terror plots.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, which oversees the interrogation group, wasn't informed of the operation to foil the airline plot until it had been completed and the CIA had the bomb. FBI technicians are now examining the bomb.

ENLARGE

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta hold a news conference in Brussels April 18.
Yves Herman/Reuters

Saudi Arabia has a network of informants in Yemen, including former al Qaeda militants, which it uses to help the U.S. in a widening campaign of counterterrorism and drone strikes in Yemen. It was a Saudi tip that helped thwart a 2010 plan by al Qaeda in Yemen to implant explosives in airborne cargo.

Despite foiling the plot, the White House said it shows that al Qaeda's offshoot in Yemen is "the most operationally active" branch of the world-wide terrorist organization and a "cancer" that has to be excised from the Arabian Peninsula.

The CIA has been ramping up operations in Yemen in recent years following the near-miss with the Christmas Day bombing attempt, and it further accelerated its intelligence operations in Yemen last summer, when it launched a new drone program there.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, speaking at a news conference Tuesday while traveling in India, repeated the admonition that the plot shows why Americans and others must remain vigilant, despite official assessments that al Qaeda has weakened considerably in recent years.

"They keep trying to devise more and more perverse and terrible ways to kill innocent people," Mrs. Clinton said. She added that U.S. officials are deepening counterterrorism partnerships with other countries, and called on Pakistan to do more "to make sure that its territory is not used as launching pads for terrorist attacks anywhere, including inside of Pakistan."

Meanwhile, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said he would review the administration's handling of the alleged plot out of concern that officials failed to inform Congress of planned covert action, as is required by law. He also said that the leak of details of the operation could have endangered it, and that the administration may be politicizing national security.

"I'm very concerned," the chairman, Michigan Republican Mike Rogers, said in an interview. "This does not pass the smell test when it comes to politicization of national security information. I hope I am wrong, but we'll find out in our review."

The plot was reported Monday by the Associated Press despite administration requests to delay the report. "It was an unauthorized leak that we attempted to delay as long as possible for operational reasons," a U.S. official said.

Intelligence officials said they keep Congress apprised of their activities. "CIA works very hard to keep Congress informed," said CIA spokesman Preston Golson. "We take that responsibility very seriously."

Another member of the committee, Rep. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, said he wasn't concerned about the belated briefing because the government often has reasons to hold information close when operations are ongoing. But he backed an investigation into the leak of plot details.

The Senate is not planning a review of whether the administration failed to inform Congress in accordance with the law.

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